I am a quilt designer/teacher/author, a wife/mother/grandmother, and certified yoga instructor who is searching for balance, strength, and happiness in all things.
Jami Smith, one of Linda’s stitching friends, sent me photos of her blocks so far. Looking good, Jami! I love the backgrounds you put behind these birds :-).
Judy Ullman wrote to say that she is enjoying researching the birds and used a collage method on Mickey Lawler Skydyes fabric. Well done, Judy! You found a really creative way to use the patterns! Thank you for sharing and it will be fun to see what you come up with next :-).
I just watched and enjoyed your video about preparing circles, since I recently finished appliquéing 81 flannel circles unto flannel squares. This is what I did. (Much similar to your process with a couple of minor differences.)
I used the perfect circle template from Karen Kay Buckley. Borrowed it from my friend Jackie. Hers came with a thicker acrylic 2.5” circle to draw around and all the plastic/teflon templates. Drew all 81 circles at once, then cut them 2 at a time with roughly 3/8” seams allowance. Then with all my cut 2.5” cookies stacked, I worked on 4 at a time. Sewed around outer edges, starting with a “knicker knot” (demoed by Sue Daley in another video for EPP—a PS from me at the bottom of the post) and left a longer tail to pull gathers. I found that a regular quilters knot pulled through too easily.
My first few circles I tied knot at end, but found it sometimes difficult to get the plastic template out after pressing, so I left the tail loose to pull while pressing and then again to make adjustments to pleats & gathers after template removed. Making 4 at a time proved to be perfect timing for me since it took about that long to press and then cool enough to handle. I only used water in a spray bottle to press, not starch. I pressed them flat one more time on my wool mat. Again I made stacks of 2.5” red flannel cookies.
Notice the Travel Sandboard that Joan is working on!
Now begins the hand sewing. It started out a bit tedious since all the circles were red tweed print and all squares were a black dark check. So they come off as red on black. But I made sort of a game of it as I got into it. I had maybe 15 done when I decided to time myself without racing, just to see how long it actually took to sew a circle down. Each one took less than 10 min. My game became: stitch 5 in the morning before I started my day and 5 in evening while watching tv or before working on something else. Easy enough to do without getting bored. I made a little pile of 5 each and in no time I had all 81 done in about 10days. And it made it less tedious!!
Now I get to start making the square-in-a-square blocks. They have been my nemesis for quite some time but after this quilt, I should have them conquered!! All the blocks will be different colored plaids, checks, so not tedious at all. I will put a wool batt inside and do some big stitch in blocks with maybe an X in center of each circle. Making it for my husband, he knows nothing at this point and he will love it. No rush for finish.
So that’s my circle story. Joan
Thank you, Joan, for sharing your circle adventure! This is going to be a wonderful surprise for you husband. It will surely keep him warm :-). Also, your circles are wonderfully round and perfect. Nice!
The Needle Caddy pattern is free at pieceocake.com—click here. From Joan: “My friend Jackie made the needle caddy and gave it to me some time ago. Then she made more for group gifts; she asked if I wanted another…absolutely!! I keep that one in my wool appliqué supplies. So I have 2. Lucky me!”
PS: The knicker knot has been around a while. I learned it years ago and replaced it with my ending knot, which has also been around a long time. Both are good knots to use to end a line of stitches or at the beginning, when sewing coarser fabric like flannel where a quilter’s knot pulls through.
Elise Boivin-Ford recently wrote: “I finished my very first applique. It took me forever because I always have many projects on the go but I’m rather pleased with it. Thank you for your precious help!”
Well done, Elise!
She moved on to English paper piecing to make this pouch and wrote: “I found the pattern in the book “Patchwork & Appliqué Pas à Pas” by Murushak Volkova (the book is in French but I think the author is Russian, so it may be a translation). Once again, your videos have been very helpful. Thank you.”
I like Elise’s approach, trying new techniques on smaller projects. It gives you a chance to see if you like the technique before investing too much time and money to make something big. Elise, thank you for sharing!
Joan made another chicken, this time for her sister—for Easter and it’s a chicken/bunny! Instead of grandma or something more conventional, she is called Bunny by her grandson. Hence, the bunny ears!! 🐰
Joan says her sister is going to love it… of course she will 🥰!
Joan’s chicken is wearing a rabbit-ear headband. Isn’t that inventive? And, you know what? There could be other headbands… reindeer antlers, hearts, shamrocks, and many more. Joan, feel free to ignore these ideas 🤣 and thank you for sharing your Easter chicken/bunny!
Years ago, Steve built our dining room table from old 2″ x 6″ tongue-and-groove pine flooring that came from a hangar at Love Field in Dallas. I wanted a table I could baste on and not feel bad if the finish got marred and it’s been perfect!
However, the stain and polyurethane on the table top has gotten gummy over time. Our friend Jacquie (who makes the Hand Crafted Sewing Boxes) thinks the oil in the pine reacted with finish. After 3 years of wishing someone would fix it, I realized I was the someone.
First, I stripped the table top (the legs are fine) with a paint and varnish removing gel. You cover it with plastic to keep the gel moist and let it sit for 1-24 hours. I lasted 2 hours and then I started scraping. It took off the polyurethane, but not the stain.
Then I sanded. So much sanding! 5 hours with the orbital sander and 50 grit sandpaper took off a lot of the finish, but not enough… I could still feel the gumminess in the wood.
After a consult with Elizabeth (who makes our Mending Turnips) I pulled out the belt sander for 2 more hours of sanding with 80 grit sandpaper. I went through a lot of sandpaper because the finish was gummy and clogged the sandpaper but, as you can see below, I finally got down to clean wood.
That used up one full day. The next morning, I put on a coat of Odie’s Oil. This stuff is like magic! It doesn’t have much of an odor and, what you can smell, is pretty nice. Not a problem to use inside the house! It’s food safe, can be used on cutting boards, and it looks great on the table.
I added a second coat of oil the next day and I can add more over time if I need to. It cures for 3 days, with hand buffing as needed. Jacquie says the oil in the pine and Odie’s Oil will be good because oils like each other (I’m paraphrasing there).
We can see a lot more of the pine wood grain because it is not hidden by the stain and Steve and I both like it. If we want to, we can get the darker Odie’s Oil and even it out, but not yet. It is wonderful to have this job marked off the long-term list!
Side note: Belt sanders make a huge mess—I was happy that I had a mask on—but I should have covered the light fixture before sanding 🙄. Almost all of the rods in my Sputnik light fixture had to be unscrewed and everything thoroughly dusted. TIP: I put a tiny bit of Lolo Moisturizer on the threads before screwing them back in and that made the action smoother.
Piece O Cake Blog 